American Literature - a Quick Survey Syllabus
Date
Assignment Due
January
3
go over midterm
4
Last Flower
5
Iroquois Constitution
6
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
7
American Crisis
10
Rip Van Winkle
11
Devil and Tom Walker
12
Transcendentalism
13
Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
14
Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber #1
17
No school
18
No school
19
Short, Happy #2 (finish it) due
20
Catbird Seat due
21
April 2005: Usher II due
24
Thurber parables due
25
TEST




American Literature History Part 1

American Literature History Part 2

Last Flower notes

Iroquois Constitution notes
constitution - principle of organization or basic law of a nation, state or organization

figurative language - words used in a non-literal way to express a relationship between essentially unlike things.

metaphor - a comparison between two basically unlike things. (implied or stated)
ex. The sea was a sheet of glass.
simile - a stated comparison (usually signaled by the words like, as, appears, or than) between two basically unlike things that none the less have something in common.
ex. "...eyes as blue as the sky."

Q2C - Why wouldn't you want to be a spider?

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

sermon - formal talk on a moral or religious subject

use of rhetorical devices to appeal to emotion:
metaphor/simile
conduplicatio - repetition of word(s) in order to amplify the word
hyberbole - exaggeration used to make a dramatic point
anaphora - repetition of word(s) at the beginning of successive clauses
epistrophe - repetition of word or phrase at end of successive clauses
alliteration - repetition of consonant sounds at beginning of words

American Crisis
Q2C - Why would you be angry at someone who said "Give me peace in my day?"
What is a "summer soldier" and "sunshine patriot"? What are they doing at this time? Why?
Explain "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly."
Why does Paine believe that God is on their side?
What type of person "will pursue his principles unto death?" Why?

Rip Van Winkle
Q2C - What was Rip doing for those 20 years and why? Explain with support from the text.

Devil and Tom Walker
Explain the metaphor with the trees.
In what way does Tom outdo what the devil desires? What does this show?
What wouldn't Tom do for the devil? What does this show?
What is the lesson to be learned from Tom's "taking" by the devil? What would have kept it from happening when it did? What does this show?
How does Irving show the hypocrisy of some church goers?

Transcendentalism
What are the five characteristics that we will focus on?
In what way is Huck Finn a Transcendenatlist?

Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
What hints are given to show that Farquar is daydreaming?
How does this story show a "bridge" between Romanticism and Realism?

Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber
Was Francis' death an accident? Explain.

Catbird Seat
In what way was Mr. Martin sitting in the catbird seat?

April 2005: Usher II
How does the quote "ignorance is fatal" apply to the events of the story?
In what way is what Stendahl does ironic?

Thurber parables
Be able to explain the meaning of each of the morals.
What historical event(s) does "Rabbits" apply to?
What is the significance of the fox being chased away? Was the fox crazy?

Quotes
...[he] was the greatest and wisest of all animals because he could see in the dark and because he could answer any question.
She had begun chipping at the cornices of the firm's edifice and now she was swinging at the foundation stones with a pickaxe.
They were trying to escape....and as you know, this is no world for escapists.
You can fool too many people too much of the time.
You might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backward.
The wolves were crazy about the way they themselves were living, because it was the only way to live.
He noted the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million blades of grass. The humming of the gnats that danced above the eddies of the stream.
The man in the water saw the eye of the man on the bridge gazing into his own through the sights of the rifle.
Fear gone like an operation. Something else grew in its place. Main thing a man had. . . . Made him into a man.
She had begun chipping at the cornices of the firm's edifice and now she was swinging at the foundation stones with a pickaxe.
The wolves were crazy about the way they themselves were living, because it was the only way to live.
They were trying to escape....and as you know, this is no world for escapists.
...[he] was the greatest and wisest of all animals because he could see in the dark and because he could answer any question.

He assisted at their sports, made their playthings, taught them to fly kites, and shoot marbles and told them long stories of witches, ghosts and Indians.
. . . he soon found many of his old cronies . . . and preferred making friends among the rising generation, with whom he soon grew into great favor.
He became, therefore, all of a sudden, a violent churchgoer. He prayed loudly and strenuously, as if heaven were to be taken by force of lungs.
Let all griping money brokers lay this story to heart. The truth of it is not to be doubted.
In fact, he declared it was of no use to work on his farm; it was the most pestilent little piece of ground in the whole country; everything about it went wrong . . .
However [he] might have felt disposed to sell himself to the devil, he was determined not to do so to oblige his wife ...
"The God that holds you over the pit of hell much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire abhors you..."
"The liberators, under the guidance of God, set fire to the discontent, so presently the world was at war again."
"Under the shade of this Tree of Great Peace we spread the soft white feather down of the thistle as seats for you."
"You have offended him infinitely more that ever a stubborn rebel did his prince and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from the fire."
". . . the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.
"...it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God would rush forth with inconceivable fury."
"... and they shall . . . offer thanks to the earth where men dwell, to the streams of water, the forests, the animals. . ."
"This time the destruction was so complete that nothing at all was left in the world except one man and one woman and one flower."
"These are times that try men's souls. . ."